


After the eye of the storm

by MaryShimy



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Akumatized Marinette Dupain-Cheng, Dissapointing Fathers, F/M, Poor Adrien, Poor Marinette, Queen Bee is here, Swearing, puns, puns?, they are all friends, why did I do this?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-13
Updated: 2018-02-20
Packaged: 2019-03-17 18:56:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 14,512
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13665210
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MaryShimy/pseuds/MaryShimy
Summary: Marinette had been working for three months to create the perfect portfolio to apply for the new internship program at Gabriel Fashion that would jump start her career. She has given more than 110% to get this done by the deadline, and it has started to show.





	1. Just two more weeks

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: Not my characters, not my story. All I take credit for is the execution of this idea. 
> 
> I'm unsure at the moment if Queen Bee is the Bee's Miraculous' name, but I went with it. Along with Emerald Shell, which I took (borrowed?) from the fanfic Back To Us by DarkReyna16. Great fanfic, go check it out. She took the idea of dark! Chat and executed it perfectly. 
> 
> Marinette's outfit in here was inspired by this https://pp.vk.me/c633116/v633116816/1cf76/fLi3EKAOLP8.jpg . Can't find the artist, but credit to them for literally inspiring this entire story.

It was another Monday like any other.

Adrien got up in the morning excited for another day of school with friends.

Alya packed her things and hoped for another akumatized victims so that she could get more videos of Ladybug and get more clues, and another day of being Rena Rouge.

Nino put on his headphones and walked to school not really paying attention to the music as he played over in his head repeatedly the practices and training to be next in line for guardian, as it has become necessary to hide the miraculous with someone else, and a young kid seemed to be the most inconspicuous.

Chloe arrived at school in an expensive car, bragging and whining about everything, trying her best to be the same mean, spoiled brat she was a few years ago, to make sure no one notices the differences in her or the similarities with her and Queen Bee.

And Marinette got dressed and walked to school barely awake as she did for the weeks prior, working hard into the night to make a great portfolio and great outfits, hoping that it will be enough to get her the internship to Gabriel Fashion.

All these kids, working for a goal, to live a normal life, to figure out one grand secret, to protect another, to pretend that nothing has changed, and to create the road to start her future.

School would be over in just a few months, and is now that Marinette has realized just how hard it is to get into design school or to get any kind of work in experience in fashion design company, so she has dedicated her all might to try and get this internship, this one of kind opportunity, to get an internship that offers to help any college students with a scholarship, and any graduates with half the money to pay their loans.

Marinette has given 110% to try and get in and it was showing.

Halfway into second period and Marinette is once again asleep. Some teachers pitied her and understand the stress some of the students are suffering right now to try and get into college, other were less caring.

“Ms. Césaire, could you do me the favor of waking up Ms. Dupein-Cheng and informing her of her afternoon detention? Maybe if it comes from her friends it will finally stick that she cannot sleep through class.”

With as much discomfort as anyone would have before unwillingly hurting a friend, Alya awoke Marinette and calmed her down as she, as always, awoke panicked (why, she doesn’t know) and told her the bad news. One that Marinette was getting more used to by the daily.

“I understand the whole thing with the internship Mari, but if your grades go down you won’t get into college either way.” Alya leaned as close to Mari to whisper to her as Mrs. Garrel turned around to continue the class.

“I know. I’m almost done. Just two more weeks and I’m back to regular schedule. I just need you to keep taking notes and helping me with my homework till next week. And then . . . and then all my focus will go to making up for the lost progress in school.”

Alya looked at her, at the dark rings underneath Mari’s eyes, at the lost shine in Mari’s hair, at the fade in Mari’s skin color. She was looking sicker every day. But no matter what you told her, she wouldn’t give up. She would always tell you it would all be worth it in the end. Alya only hoped it would.

Somewhere around 5th period the boys got to talking to Alya as Mari slept through a class with a more forgiving teacher.

“Get her to drink some supplements or vitamins or something. At the rate she’s going she’ll be a corpse working for Adrien’s father.”

“Lower your voice Nino, I don’t want her to wake up.” Alya already worries for her friend’s physical health, she doesn’t want to worry about her emotional friend listening to her and the boys talk about her while they think she’s asleep.

“At what point do we start blaming your father for this?”

Adrien looked at Nino baffled. “Its not like he did this with the purpose of tiring Mari out. He’s looking for a design student to give a great opportunity to, he didn’t expect soon-to-be high school graduates to take this as a chance for a college scholarship. And she’s not wrong, it will work that way if it does happen, but that was not how dad originally intended it. -“

“Why now? Why at finals? Even college students are wrecking themselves right now. It was just bad timing.” Alya whispered furiously.

“Or a great way to see how people work under pressure.” Adrien intercepted, desperate to defend his father.

“It’s insane!” Alya whispered loudly.

“Its how that kind of world works though babe, the music industry is kind of like that. A little softer, but not forgiving either.”

“I . . . Look at her. She’s already so tiny, I don’t want her in any kind of danger, even from herself and her ambitions.”

“We know. We’ve tried. But you heard her. She’s almost done.” Adrien tried to reassure Alya, glancing at Marinette who true to Alya’s word was becoming tinier by the day.

“We could try and help her.”

Alya and Adrien looked at Nino like he was insane, “Have you seen Mari at work? She’ll hurt you if you get anywhere close to her designs. She’s very meticulous about that.” Alya whispered, remember previous cases that past month where she dared to try, and it didn’t end good.

Adrien looked at Mari, a smile on his face as he imagined the tiny girl hurting tough Alya for messing up her work in some way. “That seems like her, and at the same time, it doesn’t.”

Alya nodded. “What kind of supplements do you suggest? I could talk to her parents- “

A loud blast could be heard a few streets away, followed by the crumbling of an ancient building and the screams of many civilians.

In unison all the students got up, along with a startled Mari, and made their way to the cafeteria, where they were always instructed to stay, waiting for the heroes of Paris to solve the problem before going back to the classrooms.

In the rush of hundreds of students going to the cafeteria, it was easy to miss five students sneaking away from the crowd, all in different directions, finding a place to hide and become the heroes that would save Paris from today’s akumatized victim.

As four heroes reach the area of destruction, finding a construction worked theme akumatized victim, they notice a sick looking Ladybug trailing behind.

“She doesn’t seem to be getting better.” Queen Bee mumbled, turning back to try and see if there are any victims anywhere near the vicinity of the crumbled building.

“Have you talked to her Chat?” Emerald Shell sighed as he got ready for another fight of them compensating for Ladybugs health.

Chat gave a small glare to Emerald before jumping away to reach Ladybug before she reached the site.

As he reached her he noticed the obvious, her skin becoming paler, her hair losing her shine, but also, he noticed that Ladybug was beginning to lose endurance, running out of breath before the fight has even started.

“Hello Chat. Running away from the fight? That doesn’t seem like you.” Even with the ill state she was in, she still packed her sassy attitude and that calm Chat down a bit. Just a bit.  
“No. Came here to tell you to stay hidden.”

The look on Ladybug’s face would have been priceless in any other situation. But this one wasn’t one those situations. “You’re asking me to what?’

“I’m not asking. I’m telling you to stay hidden until we get the akuma out for you to purify it. It’s becoming harder for us to make up for the fact you are not in a healthy state to fight another akuma.”

You could hear the anger in Chat’s voice, no matter how much he tried to soften it for his lady. Which is what mainly got her to not be angry at his demand. He rarely got angry at her, and when he did, he was right.

“But I always fight. You fought once with an injured ankle. I can fight a little tired.”

Chat stared at her, dry and tired, in a different way. Tired of an argument that was quickly getting old.

“You can either tell us why you are damaging your health like this, so we can help you help us, or you can remain quiet and go hide. Choose.”

“I’ll fight and keep my private life private.”

Chat nodded. He always loved his lady’s spirit to fight, but this time she was wrong.

“OK. Option 3 it is.”

As Chat returned to the group, regretful as ever, he informed them that Ladybug was safe for the time being, “As long we keep him away from the school.”

“What did you do kitty?” Rena asked, with a knowing smile on her.

“She’ll be furious when we find her, so let’s get this over with quick.”

And with that they got to work.

It got stressful for a minute there, as The Destructor got close to the school at one point and since they couldn’t rely on the Lucky Charm to get them out of any struggle. But they managed.

With the akumatized object in hand Chat and Rena rushed to the school to get Ladybug before The Destructor got his strength back to try and get his hammer back.

“You tied her up!?” Rena couldn’t hold her laughter as she saw a disgruntled Ladybug tied to a classroom chair glaring at Chat with a passion.

Chat simply gave her a caring smile, knowing full well that she could have gotten out at any point, she’s done it before. “Thank you for waiting.”

“Just untie me so I can get that done with and go home.” He nodded and helped her out of the chair, watching as another butterfly got purified.

“When will he give up?” Chat and Ladybug look at Rena, a bit confused at her question.

“Tired already? You’ve only been doing this for year. Emerald has been at this for longer and he isn’t complaining.” Chat asked with an annoying smirk, knowing it bothered her to be bettered by Emerald when technically she came before him.

“First of all, I was first. Second, he’s complaining too.”

“We’ve been doing this for three years, you’d think we’d be complaining.” Ladybug whispered as she moved away from Chat, realizing then he was holding her, keeping her from swaying from exhaustion, and walked towards the door.

“Why aren’t you?” Rena asked, realizing that it was true. Chat and Lady never complained about Hawk Moth’s persistence, only about his choice of victims or his timing, sometimes.

“I don’t know about her, but before this, I didn’t really have freedom, of any kind, and it felt like I had no purpose. I guess I got used to feeling needed and I don’t want it to end.” Chat said without hesitation. Almost like he’s been waiting to say that for a while.

Ladybug looked at him, a look of tiredness and pity clear on her face. She then looked at Rena, at Alya, the only miraculous who’s identity she knows, but doesn’t know who she is in return. “It kinda feels like a backup plan. If everything else fails, I can always be the hero of Paris.”

Rena stared confused. She doesn’t know it’s Marinette scared for her future underneath the mask, so she doesn’t understand Ladybug’s worries, her fears.

“Well, I did all I was needed for. Gotta get back to my normal life. See you guys next time Moth comes Hawking.” As she ran away she could hear an excited gasp from Chat, excited at her attempt at a pun. A smile on her face as she tried and succeeded to make Chat happy in some form.

Back at the cafeteria Marinette didn’t notice how four other students sneaked in just as she did. None of them did. None of them ever do.

During her walk home with Alya she tries to build a new outfit in her head, trying to get inspiration from anything. After two months of this, she is beginning to feel dry of inspiration. A writer’s block of some sort. It’s only when she gets home that she realizes Alya never parted with her.

“Alya you do know you don’t live here right?”

“What if I came for a cupcake?”

“. . . did you?”

“No. I came for the croissants.” She smiled brightly as she got inline for the bakery.

“Of course, how dare I fool myself, you only want my friendship so you could get special treatment here.” Marinette said with an exaggerated tone as she walked towards the back, kissing her mother as she passed her by.

Alya exaggerated a gasp, “How did you figure it out?”

“You were to obvious my friend. Too obvious.” Alya giggled as Marinette walked into her house, to slave away at her work.

“Mrs. Dupein-Chen?”

Sabine looked up from organizing the treats on the counter, “Yes, Alya? You sound like you didn’t really come here for our treats.”

Alya nodded, “It’s about Marinette.”

“Does it have to do with the reason she’s arriving late from school almost day?”

“Well yeah, detention. Because she’s falling asleep in class, cause of the- “

“Internship. Yes. I know that part. She’s persistent.”

“She doesn’t look well.”

Sabine looked at Alya, and Alya finally noticed that it’s not just Marinette who looks tired. Her parents both do as well.

“We’re trying. We make sure she eats her meals, that she eats some snacks in between. We try to force her to fall asleep at a reasonable hour, and most time she does. We watch her. But she wakes up an hour or so later with stress and fear of losing this internship and goes on and works till its time for school. At this point we don’t know what else to do but force more food down her throat.”

Alya nodded, feeling guilty for insinuating that her parents wouldn’t be helping Marinette at this moment, that they wouldn’t know what she’s going through.

“Nino recommends supplements and vitamins.”

Sabine nodded, “The doctor as well.”

Alya sighed and ordered the croissant, she didn’t even know that Sabine and Tom had taken her to the doctor, she didn’t know why. Clearly, they are doing what they can when their daughter’s ambition is eating away at her.

As she walked home Alya began to contact her buddies who were getting her videos to add to the Ladyblog. It has become nearly impossible to maintain the Ladyblog when she’s part of the action, unable to record it. She has made a few deals with some action-seekers to get them to give her the footage they record to put in the Ladyblog. She has lost her credit for being able to get content about Ladybug, but she has maintained her credit for the theories and research she’s doing on her. That’s pretty much the only thing she has going.

At the beginning she started the Ladyblog to fangirl of Lady B, then it was a way to archive information on her. A year ago, the Ladyblog became her portfolio. A great thing to add on her resume when she finished school and finally began to pursue a career in journalism. But now that she can barely take care of it, now that she can’t get the content herself, it has been dropping on visits. People preferring to go to YouTube and find the channels of the people she credits on her blog. Therefore, she wants it to be over.

She strongly believes that once this is all over Ladybug will reveal who she is. Not to the world but to her comrades. She will have insider’s information on who ladybug is and she can drop small -tiny! - hints on her blog, here and there to keep her visits high. And if not, then at least she won’t have to worry about school, akumas AND the blog.

But she can’t complain. Lady B and Kitty Chat have had it worse.

The next morning Chloe wakes up to find that their day of work will have to start early.

She rushes out, already in costume, hoping that her comrades are close by to hear the disruption of this early morning akuma.

“Man, this asshole has got some balls to be sending akumas this early in the morning.”

“You tell me.”

Queen Bee stood up from her hiding spot to appreciate a good kitty in the morning.

“I dislike more, and more your ability to sneak by.”

“And I find your love to swear more fun by the week.” Chat smirked at Queen as he went to stand by her side to analyze the situation.

Chloe truly has never been one to swear, and Chat couldn’t have known that, but she couldn’t deny that being Queen Bee has given her some sort of freedom to express her anger in words like that instead of attacking others. Plus, the bonus of kicking akumas ass.

“If they don’t arrive in ten, call them.” She said getting ready to fight a bartender akuma.

“If they’re not in costume they won’t answer.”

“Then go around town yelling their names. I don’t care what the fuck you do just get them.” She yelled, jumping down to the action. She didn’t dare say but really, the one they need the most is Ladybug, who without, the situation will remain the same. If she doesn’t purify the akuma, they could very well spend all day, even all week fighting the same akuma. So, they need her.

Nine Tails and Greeny got there soon after, but Leathers and Buggy didn’t get to the fight until at least 15 minutes after it was over. Partially over. Greeny had The Shaker tied and under a tight watch while they waited for Ladybug.

“Where were you!?” Is not like her to be demanding while in suit, she doesn’t think it befits her hero persona or her kwami to behave like that, so she has learned to be kinder and softer.

“Found her a while ago, looked tired, decided it was best she not join the fight. Then I had trouble finding you guys.” Leathers grumbled while carrying Buggy into the scene. She did look tired, and now so did he. Like they had a long argument about it.

“Hurry Dots, we all got school to get to.” Greeny said, trying to stay nonchalant about the situation. They don’t know he’s next in line to be guardian, that it is his job to make sure that the miraculous are safe and that their users as well, so seeing Buggy do this to herself was stressing him out. But beneath the mask was a girl who refused to ask for help or listen to anyone. So Greeny tried to remain as uncaring as possible for her sake, considering everyone else is already on her case about it.

Buggy nodded and dropped to the ground grabbing the shaker, how creative! and smashing it on the ground. “. . . That’s not the akuma.”

They all turned to look at The Shaker to notice she was gone.

“Chat, hide Ladybug. Rena go west and search high, Queen go east, I’ll take south.” Greeny jumped into action without a second of delay, scaling the building trying to suppress his laughter at the disgruntled sounds of Buggy being carried off by Leathers.

As Chat managed to find a good and still dark alley, he relaxed and let Buggaboo down. “Before you start, why?”

His lady got out of his hold and leaned on the opposite wall mildly glaring at him, “Why what?”

“Like . . . you don’t have to specify, but just give me like a small clue or reason as to why you look skinnier. Why your eyes and hair don’t look as bright. . . just why?” Chat has lost so much already, well Adrien has, but either way, neither were in the mood to lose someone else, much less his lady.

“I’m preparing for my future.”

“Are you planning on being a runway model, because I really don’t know any job that requires you to slowly kill yourself for it.” Chat’s anger is slowly peaking out and after two months he doesn’t know how to hold it back.

“I . . . need to prepare some sort of content to be able to apply to some. . . jobs or schools. I didn’t realize how unprepared I was until recently. I’m almost done.” Chat scoffed and went to the edge of the alley, waiting for his call.

Buggaboo made her way to him, “Chat?” He didn’t like being mad at her, but her fixation on secrets has made this entire ordeal on her health twice as stressful, much more when he is also worrying about his friend Mari’s health. It is catching up to him and it appears Buggaboo is with who he’s going to release his pent-up tension. “Kitty?”

He gave her a sideway glance to see her puppy eyes waiting for him, “Dammit.” He whispered under his breath as he turned to her. “What?”

“Look at me, look me in the eyes.” He did as told as she grabbed one his hands and held it tight between hers, “I promise I’m almost done, and then when it’s over you’ll be the first to know.

Hell, you can even take me out for dinner and fatten me up again.” He smiled at the idea of it, at the offer, and nodded.

“Ok. I’ll be waiting.” She smiled and nodded, giving him as tight of a hug as she could in her weakened state.

The hug was interrupted by three beeps as one of the heroes tried to contact Chat.

“Where is she?” Chat cut to the chase, wanting to get his lady safe and out of there.

“In the place they all like to destroy.”

“The Eiffel Tower.” Chat and his lady said at the same time, getting ready for mild action at the most.


	2. Lost & Found

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Past the due date, Mari tries to relax.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I know I added the picture of akumatized Mari in the first chapter. I may have done that too early. When i get the time I'll remove it, and also fix the problem with the tenses of the verbs. . . on the entire thing.   
> Pretend the picture wasnt there and that you didnt see it. And then act surprised later. 
> 
> I know about the tense mistakes, and all the grammar mistakes. I re-read the chapter over and over again everytime i check it (which is too much per day) and when I open microsoft. . . but never before i upload it. Oops. I'll do it later. 
> 
> This one is shorter.

Nino was jamming to some songs, almost dancing on the sidewalk, as he made his way to school when he bumped into his girlfriend.

“Oh shit.” He murmured trying to take his headphones off and turn off the music as fast as possible.

“How many times have I told you to not listen to music when walking like this? You could have bumped into someone dangerous, or tripped and hurt yourself, or gotten robbed cause you couldn’t hear them coming, or- “

“I get it, I get it, I get it.” 

There was a silence between them, between an old argument. 

“You’re going to pick up Mari?” 

Alya nodded, “She said she would be finished by today. I plan on going to her house and tying her to the bed until she has slept all she needs to.”

Nino shakes his head with a smile on his face, “Oh, how did Mari get so lucky to have a best friend like you?” 

“I pushed my way into her life, just like I did with you.” Alya said with a smirk on her face. Nino nodded, pulling his beauty into his arms. “And thank God you did.” He said as he kissed her temple. “Make sure she’s good and healthy before she comes back. I’ll take care of the material.” 

Alya nodded and gave him a goodbye kiss before heading towards the bakery. 

Once she got there, she went in to find Sabine and Tom casually talking on a rather slow morning. 

“Hey there, my favorite bakers. How’s the mini bun doing? Up yet?” 

Sabine giggled at the ‘mini bun’ and shook her head. “She left early this morning. Just incredibly excited about having finished and said she had something to do now.” 

Alya stopped in her tracks baffled. Mari has barely slept in three months and when she finally can she escapes at early dawn? “Thanks Sabine, I’ll go make sure she doesn’t faint in school.” 

Sabine nodded, getting in position as a customer walked in. 

After half running to school, in hopes of seeing Mari before the bell rang, she got in the classroom only to find that she was not there. 

Nino looked at her confused. “Weren’t you supposed to stay with Mari today?”

Alya sighed loudly as she got into her seat. “Apparently she left early. I don’t know where to now.” 

“Oh” 

Alya looked at the empty seat besides him, “Where’s blondie?” 

Nino looked at the seat and back at her, inviting her to take it for the day. “Flu.” 

Alya nodded as she switched seats, “So it’s just us.”

Nino gave a low laugh under his breath, “Why did you make it sound like it’s the worst thing possible?”

Alya nudged him, “Cause you’re intolerable!” She said sarcastically, pushing her chair close to him to settle into his arms. 

“Much more than Chloe?” 

“Oh god, never!”

Nino laughed as the teacher walked in. 

“Good morning class, today- “

As Ladybug made her way to the low hidden roofs in a city a good half an hour away, she felt increasingly tired. 

By the time she got to the low roof, hidden between other high roofs and the maze of antique homes, built generations ago, she found herself in the presence of a too well thought out picnic, done by hers truly. 

“You planned this even though you didn’t know when I would be finished exactly?”

“I’m always prepared for you.” He smirked back at her, sitting casually on a pool of blankets and pillows and so much food. 

She sat by his side, watching as he pulled out food after food. “You really do plan to fatten me up in one day, do you?” 

He nodded as he handed her a sandwich. “I will singlehandedly fix you with my bear hands if I have to. Everything for my lady.” 

She took the sandwich and took a bite of it, settling into the pillows. “. . . Was that a pun?” She looked at him as he tried to hold his smirk, serving her a cup of orange juice. 

“Would you prefer my paws, me lady?” She flicked his nose as she handed her the cup, shaking her head. 

Truly she couldn’t be angry with him. It’s been a good two months since his last pun, he stopped when he finally noticed that she was getting skinnier. 

“Did you make these?” Chat gave a short laugh, “My lady, if I did, I wouldn’t purr-den you with having to eat them. I can bear-ely boil water.” She looked at him, straight and forward, with a serious face.

“You’re going to make up today for those past two months of no puns, aren’t you?” 

“Pawsitive!” She shook her head for a good while before she started laughing. And then she couldn’t stop. It’s been so long since she didn’t have stress on her mind, it felt good to let go. 

It was now lunch time and they’ve had to de-transform twice -low on the alley-, feed their kwami and retransform twice. But they refused to stay apart for too long. 

“So, design.” 

Ladybug sighed as Kitty tried to slip more information out of her. “Just a design. Non-specific.”

“You’ve cat a lot of dedication, no matter what you do you give a hundred and ten purrcent.”

She nodded, settling into the pillows. “Where I plan to work that’s what they expect.” 

Kitty began to pat her hair, smoothing it over her head as she slowly began to fall asleep. “But can you handle it?” He whispered as she finally passed out after months of exhaustion. 

Chat stayed by her side, eating snacks, or reading a book he brought with him, expecting he would have had to wait longer for her. He watched over her sleeping body, swearing to protect her with his life if he had to. 

The color had begun to come back and the shine in her eyes was becoming brighter by the hour. It would take a few weeks before her cheeks began to full out to their prime beauty again, but he could wait. And he will shove food down her throat until it does. 

It was twenty minutes later before her earrings began to beep. Not wanting to wake her, he covered her with a blanket and just laid by her side, respecting her privacy, and not looking under it when the pink glow came. 

He was almost dozing off in the afternoon glow when Redhead and Shelly found them. 

“To what do I owe your company?” He said, not even bothering to get up.

“We weren’t looking for you. But we could use your help. A girl from the school near us went missing. No one has seen her since this morning. I’ve met her parents and they are super nice people, so I would really like to get her back as soon as possible.” Redhead said with stress clear in her voice. 

It was clear there was something she was lying about, or modifying, but due to their secrets identities they have all learned to look past these blank spaces. 

“Do you have their name and a picture?” Chat asked, because he’s the hero, and akumas aren’t always the problem. He softly began to shake Buggaboo awake. 

“Uh yeah, Marinette Dupein-Cheng, and Rena has a picture.” 

Buggaboo began chocking on air underneath the blanket, “Who’s that?” Asked Shelly. 

“Ladybug.” 

“Oh good, almost the whole gang is here. The more the better.” Redhead said as she showed Chat a picture of Marinette. He knew her well enough to tell you how many freckles are on her face, but they couldn’t know. 

“Uh yeah, we’ll- we’ll get r-r-right on it.” Buggaboo stuttered, pulling the blanket tight around her. 

Redhead nodded to Chat, “Okay, I’ll round up the north again, just incase we missed something. Shell can take the east; Kitty Chat you can take west and Lady B can scout the south. If Stripes were here I’d tell her to remain near the school or her house just in case. But we’ll do what we can for now.” 

“Allr-right-t.” Buggaboo waited silently for the sound of them leaving before whispering, “Spots On.” 

A soft pink glow later and Buggaboo emerged from beneath the blankets. 

“So, I’ll take the south.” 

“I’m sorry, our evening had to be cut short.”

She shook her head, “It’s in no way your fault, and I’m at least glad you didn’t refer to this as a date.” 

“If I did I would’ve have opened myself up for the rejection I just got. Which is strange cause I was avoiding.” 

“Oh shit, I’m sorry. I’m so sorry Kitty, this was a great evening. Spectacular even. I feel so great after the rough months I endured. I can’t thank you enough for this.”

He shook his head and pulled her to her feet, “Let’s just find her so that her parents can have a goodnight sleep and so that you too. I doubt five hours can make up for 3 months.” 

She gave him a quick hug before running off the roofs in search of herself. 

Once she reached the school, she hid by the back alley to de-transform. 

“What am I going to say for being gone all day?”

Tikki flew up to her face, “Say . . . that you decided to take the subway today.”

“How is that gonna help?” 

“Say that you fell asleep on it. Woke up a few hours later miles away. And you just got back.”

Marinette stared at her little friend, in wonder, “I’m so glad I have you!”

“Me too, lets go home and rest.”

She was almost home when four costumed bodies dropped around her. Of course, with such astute bodies and skills, it wouldn’t have taken long for them to find her. 

“May I help you?”

“YOU’VE BEEN MISSING For- … hours.” Rena began yelling, marching towards her with a purpose, before she realized who were around her. “People were worried. Where were you?”

Marinette nodded, guilt clear on her, “Got lost in the subway station, fell asleep on my way to school.”

“Since when do you- . . .” Rena looked down and walked backwards deciding to let the rest take care of the situation before she revealed herself. 

“I decided to take a different route today, it wasn’t for the better. It was a simple accident. An oops. I apologize for making you guys worry and wasting your time. I was on my way home now.”

Shell nodded and went to stand by her side, “Then I guess we can escort you home, just to ease our worries.” 

“And to get cookies!” Kitty said excitedly, having gone to the bakery few times prior. 

“I guess I could get some croissants.” Bee said as she got in step, Marinette wondering when she joined the search party. 

“Yeah.” 

It must have been a view when Marinette walked home with four out of five of Paris’ heroes. Irony being that it was five out of five. 

“Marinette!” To say that she felt guilty was an understatement. All that Marinette wished now was to never make her mother looked like she did now. Like she thought she might never see her again. 

“I’m sorry. I got lost in the subway. Fell asleep on my way to school and woke up hours away.”

“Oh sweetheart, is ok. Is ok, all the matter is your safe and home, and you are going to eat, and sleep, and eat a lot more.” Sabine mumbled into her daughter’s hair as she hugged her tightly, truly afraid. 

It was a beautiful mother and daughter moment. 

“Can we have some cookies?” Ruined by a hungry stray cat. 

Sabine laughed and nodded as a small tear slipped. She was beyond thankful to them for bringing her home. She would bake them a cake right there and then if they asked. “Any preference kitty?”

Marinette watched as her comrades ordered treats from the bakery, noticing Rena/Alya staying behind. 

“I’m really sorry for making you worry.” Rena looked at her, before realizing she was in fact referring to her. “No, no, it’s ok. It was an honest mistake.” 

Marinette nodded and thought about it for a second before grabbing Rena and giving her a tight hug. “Thanks!”

It took her a moment, a little too long, before Rena hugged her back. “. . . No problem.” 

Rena didn’t know that Mari knew why she was exasperated. And for now, it was best she didn’t. Mostly for Mari’s health, because to be honest, Rena might not take it lightly that she went on MIA status to have a picnic date with Chat. 

Rena pulled away. “Take care of yourself.” Mari nodded and waved goodbye as the crew of heroes ran off into the distance, arms full of pastries. 

“I need to take a bath.” Sabine nodded, and guided Mari to it, for the moment being treating her like a child. 

After Sabine left to go call Tom and tell him Mari was home, Mari quickly dried and covered herself with a robe before transforming and rushing out to meet with the crew, who very likely were now looking for her hero persona. 

After finding them near the school and discussing their trip to the bakery with Mari and getting a share of their cookies that she really didn’t deserve, she rushed back home, hoping that her father had not arrived yet, making her mother search for her in the bath, only to find it empty. 

Lucky for her, he was just arriving, and after quickly disrobing and dipping into the now cold water, she settled in time for her mother’s knock on her door. 

“Mari, sweetie, your dad’s home. We’d like to talk to you.” Mari nodded in her pool of cool water, she knew where they were coming from, I mean, you can’t lose fifteen pounds and far too many hours of sleep without a speech from your parents on how they worry for your health. 

Mari got out of the bath and got ready to finally finish this really long day. 

As all the heroes got home and got in bed, they felt some of their worry drop. Well not some, a lot. As they all noticed that their leader finally looks like she’s getting better. Like the struggle is over. One less thing to worry about. And as Alya, Nino and Adrien settled into bed, they rejoiced that their friend’s health also was another less thing to worry about.   
In a moment of tiredness, as all these young adults settled into bed, none realized the too close coincidence that both Mari and Ladybug’s health was changing on equal terms. And it would be too late before they did.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I . . . just felt this was a good place to stop it.   
> Writing this was complicated in a way, because I already spoiled the "plot twist", before I wrote it and even in the tags. So i couldnt surprise you guys in any way. I still can't. And so it goes with their identites, writing for miraculous takes away from the beginning one element of surprise because we know their identity and that can't be a plot device no matter what.  
> But I wanted it to be, I wanted it to be something I could drop hints about and put dots to connect.   
> It's just that I had to make the decision that the dots weren't for you to connect, but for the characters. So we are all the all mighty wise people who know all truth and just can't wait for them to figure it out. 
> 
> Anyway, I'll upload the 3rd chapter on Sunday after I do my online test.


	3. The Begining Of The End

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A new akuma has come to attack and now no one can seem to find Ladybug.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> NOW you guys can look at the picture (it'll be easier if you read these as a whole and not in chapter, sometimes I forget people read this as chapters and not as a whole {I can't look for the picture now, so I'll fix this whole thing on Tuesday})
> 
> I just recieved my first comment today. It's been years since I had recieved a comment on my stories (granted I stopped writing for a good four of those) but I forgot the jittery feeling you get. Thanks. 
> 
> I want to be more honest and kinder with my Thanks but I am literally writing this on my laptop, in my car, parked at the mall as I try to either use my hotspot or steal the wifi from any fastfood here. That's how shitty the internet is where I live right now (since Huricane Maria), so it is already hard to post this (when I'm supposed to be doing a test), anyway, TRULY THANKFUL!
> 
> Anyway, what you all been waiting for:

Mari’s health has gotten better. So much better. 

But stress was coming back. 

The date of the announcement for the ten lucky winners was closing in fast, and the closer it got, the more she worried. 

Adrien spent every day reassuring her that it would be ok, and that he strongly believed in her talent.

Nino spent every day telling her that even if she didn’t get it, that there were other options, other companies, and then proceeded to show her a long list he kept cropping up, adding new ones every day, of all the options she had. 

Alya just forced food into her mouth every day and insisted on more sleepovers to ensure that this didn’t eat away at her sleep again, going as far as medicating Mari without her knowing, when stress did in fact eat away at her sleep. 

They were all now gathered in the cafeteria, eating, while Mari rambled on about how great of an opportunity it was and how she didn’t know what to do if she didn’t get. 

“You could always use your art skills and make the coolest cookies and cupcakes design in all of France.”

Adrien received a cold glare, one very rare from Mari, considering she adored him, “Or not. Dumb idea.”

The relationship between Mari and Adrien was moody at best. There were days when it looked like they were making some kind of progress, constantly flirting back and forth, there were days where it was clear someone else was on his mind and she resented it with petty passion. And then there were days when it was her, who’s thoughts were puddled with Chat’s kindness and care, too much for her to notice the flickering looks from the model blonde at her side. 

Today was neither of those. Today the worry and stress were too much for her crush of him to offer any kind of buffer to her anger. Today she was biting anyone’s head off. 

“I love my parents, but I don’t plan on staying there for the rest of my life. You understand.” Adrien nodded, knowing from what angle she was pulling at him from. 

“Ok, so to distract, Alya is applying for an internship at The Heroes of Today. They finally noticed her great blog and decided to give her a chance.” 

A small part of Mari resented it, that her friend knew what was going to happen, that her future was already taking place, but that was her best friend, so she swallowed it and only allowed her pride for her to show. She knew why Nino said it, he couldn’t be prouder of his girlfriend if he tried, and he loved to brag about her. 

 

“That’s incredible! It was about time, considering I’m almost entirely sure they based of their entire news company on your blog.” Adrien pitched in, sharing an opinion both him and Mari did about the new news company that based its entire news articles on hero work, miraculous or not. 

“Well that’s definitely something I’m not gonna bring up to them.” Adrien laughed, knowing full well, deep inside, Alya wanted to. 

“And what about you babe? Your music is becoming increasingly popular in YouTube. You’ve got more than a few millions subs now. It’ll be soon when someone notices you.” Alya and Nino were perfect for each other, never missing an opportunity to brag about the other. 

“Yeah, but it’ll still be a while until that happens. I’m going to try and study music meanwhile, see what else I can learn.” Alya nodded at his resolve. She herself had yet to decide if she was going to pursue more education, much more with the internship opportunity. 

She knew Mari had already sent out applications to all her favorite designs school, she knew that a few have already sent her early acceptance letters, now all she was waiting for was the internship and possible scholarship. Love her parents as she does, they wouldn’t be able to pay for design school no matter how much they tried. So, Mari needed that scholarship desperately or else become a slave to loans at a young age. 

Adrien on the other hand has spent so much time following his father’s orders that he still has no idea what he wants to pursue. His father has made a deal with him if he does decide to pursue further education, that he would have to delay school one year to model for the company, kinda like working for the money to pay for school. Say what you want about Gabriel, but he has done everything possible to not spoil Adrien. To teach him the values of work and earning your things. Adrien has yet to decide. 

Everyday it was a wild game of throwing random professions or college courses, trying to see if any stuck with him. There are days some do, but the next day he changes his mind about them. 

“So, nothing in design.”

“Nope.” 

Nino nodded and tried to figure which road to go to today. “Teaching?”

Mari giggled under her breath, “Poor students.”

Adrien gave a low gasp, “I mean . . . I would study before I thought them Mari! I wouldn’t be going in blind! I’m not stupid, Mari!” 

Mari shook her head as she continued to giggle.

“I don’t think she meant to say you were stupid ‘Adrikins’.” Alya replied, trying to mimic Chloe’s flirty tone when saying Adrikins. 

Of course, Adrien has been refined his entire life to fit the beauty standards of France, so his face would be more of a distraction to the students. That’s what Mari meant. 

“Well then, thank you for the complement. But no teaching.” 

“Ok.” Mari swallowed her laughter as she tried to calm down her blush, “How about cooking?” 

“I can barely boil water.” Had Mari known to look for patterns, that would have been a red flag. But she didn’t know she had to. “I’ve never been inside a kitchen in my entire life.” 

Mari nodded, taking the challenge. “Well, my parents have a grand one, and I do know how to do more than boil water.” 

Adrien stared at her. While Mari has stopped stuttering around him and has learned to talk increasingly more, she still wasn’t one to be so forward. If she wanted to spent time with Adrien she would make it a group event, scared of rejection. So, the invitation for some cooking classes from her came as a surprise to everyone. It was clear it wasn’t a group event, it was just them. 

In the silence that followed Mari lost her grip on her confidence, “You can say no.”

“No, no. I mean. Will your parents be ok with that?” 

Mari scoffed, “My parents would adopt you if they could, they won’t care.” 

Adrien gave a low laugh, adoring the comment of his friend’s parents adoring him as well. Some time ago he didn’t have friends and now even his friends’ parents liked him. 

“Alright, this weekend I’ll be your Padawan, Master.”

Nino laughed, “Buddy, your nerd is showing.” 

“Let him be free!” Adrien replied quickly.

The group laughed as lunch time ended. 

Alya made her way home with Nino, making plans for weekend dates, trying to reel him in to help her babysit her sisters. Nino played around with batting them away for a while before he agreed to helping her with the two little girls he hoped would be his sisters in law one day. 

Chloe joined Adrien at his home for a monthly evening of being friends, even if they barely talk now a day. Having given up on her crush, she began to enjoy more his friendly company and continued helping Adrien figure out what to do after school ended. Adrien on the other hand has made it his goal to find Chloe a romantic companion, throwing names around every time they meet. Nathanael being the one that stuck the most. 

And as these friends and lovers enjoyed each other’s company, Marinette walked home alone. 

She was preparing a speech to tell her parents, about needing the kitchen this Saturday, and that it was NOT a date. But she knew her blush would give them the impression that it was either way. 

“Mamma, I’m home!” 

Sabine rushed to her daughter, with a letter on her hand. “It arrived!” 

Mari grabbed the letter, and noticed it came from Gabriel Fashion, and felt her throat close instantly. 

“I’m . . . I-I’m gonna op-pen it-t in my room.” Sabine nodded, accepting that Mari needed her privacy with whatever revelation this brought. She didn’t need more pressure.

It has now been twenty minutes since Mari has locked herself in her room and she has been unable to get herself to open the letter, just sitting on her balcony staring at it. 

She gave a deep sigh as Tikki flew to her, “You can’t delay this forever.”

Mari nodded, “Yeah, I know. I mean is my future in a letter. I should just get this over it.” Tikki nodded as she settled on her shoulder.

Mari slowly opened it and pulled the letter out. 

She read the letter five times before it finally started to sink in. 

“We’re sorry to inform. . .” 

She dropped the letter in the balcony not knowing how to react. 

“It’ll be ok Mari.” Mari nodded to Tikki, as the tears finally began to show. Her throat became increasingly tighter. “There’ll be other opportunities.” 

Mari kept nodding, not really listening. “I- . . . I- . . . I’m gonna go inside. I need a moment alone.” 

Tikki nodded and went to hide in her little home, deciding to replenish herself incase Mari needed to run it off, as she has before. 

Mari settled herself unto her desk chair, staring at months of hard work, sketches, fabric samples, mannequins covered in complex designs, and at least three portfolios full of finished works. She grabbed her small drawing book and searched for the drawing that once, long ago, won Gabriel’s approval, and wondered how she had only gone down from there. It wasn’t that great. A hat with a feather. It couldn’t ever compare to all the great designs that now surrounded her in her room. That now mocked her. 

A small tear fell unto the page, making the lines on an old drawing run. Mari slowly began sob, choking on her tears, vision getting increasingly blurry and an old drawing getting increasingly runny. 

Tikki was distracted. Mari was distressed. Neither could have noticed. 

But soon enough she heard a voice, a voice she knew too well. 

“You feel unappreciated. You feel that all your hard work was wasted. You feel that your work was worthy of winning, worthy of being worn and adored by everyone. You feel mad that they don’t agree.”

She has always wondered how so many became victims. If it was a thing of temporary weakness. 

“I can help you. I will help you. Help you dress the world with your art. Teach them they were wrong.”

But now she knew it wasn’t like that. It was like his voice was honey and you couldn’t help melting for it. 

“All you have to do in return is get me Ladybug’s and Chat Noir’s miraculous.”

He convinced you what he said was true. And that that was what you wanted. 

“What do you say, Seamstress Queen?”

She knew, she knew very deep inside that the correct answer was no, that truly it was ridiculous when one of those miraculous was hers. But everything in her told her to say,

“Yes.” 

She felt darkness consume her. She felt her jeans fade away, her ponytails twist away. She felt the change and felt great about the power she now had. 

She saw her reflection. Mari saw a black mask where her spotted one used to reside. She saw her hair in a tight bun at the of back her head tied with pearls, braids framing her face, with a pair of roses, a black and a soft blue one, pinned to the side of her head, almost like a crown. She saw black pearls where her earrings used to reside. 

She saw frill cuffs at each of her wrist. Almost like she was slaved to a false decision. 

She wore a qipao. Kind of. It was gorgeous. Black with gold engravings. Sleeveless with a round opening on her chest. It was slit on the sides, and where the material connected on her hip there were gold leaves. The qipao on the front ended bellow her knees, while on her back it ended just above where her spine ended. Beneath it she wore a white frilly skirt. Very contrasting, yet perfectly complementary. The skirt barely passed beneath her rear before it ended. 

Black knee-high socks complemented the look, with black ballerina slippers with gold strings that reached her knees. 

She looked more like a dark swan than a queen. She didn’t care. It fit her small figure perfectly, her style, her grace.

At she marveled at her beauty, she realized that this was one of her designs. Well not really one, a few of them mixed together. And it was beautiful. And she wanted to make more like this. One for everyone one in Paris that perfectly fit their personality. 

She didn’t understand how this could be harmful to the citizens. She was at most harmless, and wouldn’t require the attention of the heroes, so she didn’t know how she would get them out of hiding. 

As she made to leave she heard a small gasp. But something deep inside told her not to look. A voice deep inside told her it would be dangerous and forced her to leave. 

The voice was becoming fainter by the second, and she couldn’t figure out who it belonged it. It wasn’t Hawk Moth. It was a female. Who, she couldn’t remember.

As she made her way to the Eiffel Tower, where she knew she would find the most citizens at this time a day, she threw black flowers at any citizen she saw, giving them the perfect outfit to fit their personality. 

They were happy. And that made her happy. And she wanted to do more.

Adrien was almost close to getting Chloe to admit she had a small crush on Nathanael when the distress alarm went through. Three years of akuma attacks and now the city had a distress alarm for them. 

“Shit.” 

Adrien had never heard Chloe curse before, and in that small moment, he found it funny. But just for a moment. 

“I have to go to the bathroom.” Both said in unison, neither noticing the other as they rushed off. 

As both young adults emerged from the Agreste Mansion in their hero personas, they noticed the silence.

The couldn’t hear anyone screaming, or running, or destruction for that matter. This appeared to be a very peaceful akuma. Or a quiet one.

And then they saw it. 

The people were there. On the streets, on the sidewalks, on the bridges. But they were frozen.

They had all been turned into mannequins. Perfect vessels for perfect outfits. Bee and Chat could recognize some of the mannequins as some of their classmates, looking like beautiful dolls, with outfits befitting their personality. 

It was a beautiful disaster. 

As they followed the path of mannequins they encountered Rena and Emerald, rushing to catch up with the cat and the bee. 

“Only those inside buildings were safe from the attacks.” Rena said as she managed to catch up. 

“I’m guessing the akuma had somewhere to go but couldn’t just pass up the opportunity with those on the streets.” Emerald said as he fell in tune with the squad.

Bee looked around, now noticing the faces of terror hidden behind glass walls and windows. “Where is that exactly?”

Chat sighed as he took notice of the all too familiar road, “The same place as always.” 

The squad groaned as they imagined the Eiffel Tower breaking and falling once more as it always seemed to do. 

It was only when they got there that they realized that Ladybug was missing. 

“She better gets here soon. That’s a lot of people trapped. And the akuma isn’t even here anymore.” 

Rena was right, everyone in the vicinity had already been turned into a mannequin and whatever akuma did this, it was long gone. 

It took way too long to find the akuma. 

They didn’t expect it to be casually strolling the streets, claiming new victims. 

As they dropped behind the akuma, they noticed she was talking to the victims.

“You seem like a sweet girl. But you like to fight, and you find these two sides of you are too contrasting for your friends to understand. I can help.” She then threw a black rose at the young teen who froze mid run before freezing in a casual pose as she was covered by beautiful fabrics and turned into a warrior princess. 

The akuma turned around to find the miraculous frozen. 

They recognized that voice, they all did. They all took class with her and couldn’t believe what they were hearing. 

“Marinette?” Rena said, stumbling towards the ballerina like akuma. 

“Is Seamstress Queen to you.” Seamstress said before continuing with her next victim, appearing to not care for the new company she had.

“Why? How?” Bee said exasperated, shocked by the reveal. Seamstress looked back to her, “You’re the nicest girl in our class. So nice you have managed to stay three years without being akumatized while everyone else did, even me. How did this happen?” 

The shock of the situation must have been too much for Bee, hence she not noticing the amount of private information she just dropped. But it was information that none of the miraculous had even considered before. That these new miraculous could have been previous akumas. 

Emerald nodded, baffled because behind the small revelation that Queen Bee shared classes with Marinette for three years, what she said was right. Marinette had managed to avoid being akumatized for three years, and none knew how. And in that moment, none of them remember that Adrien hadn’t neither. 

Except Chat. 

He knew why he hasn’t, he’s been fighting them. But what was Marinette’s reason? Well I mean, she had been extremely positive all these years, but everyone feels weak, or angry, or frustrated at least once a month, so how did Marinette avoid it?

The Seamstress Queen, froze in place as she listened to the orders being bargained at her. 

She rolled her eyes, “They are missing one, I’ll take care of the miraculous when Ladybug arrives.”

And in that moment, they all remembered Ladybug, who for the first time was extremely late. 

Chat tried to contact her, to find she still wasn’t even in costume. Surely, she heard the distress alarm. 

“Fine. I guess your right, better take advantage of this.” She then began to walk. . . in the opposite direction. 

They could see the glow on her face, as Hawk Moth talked to her, but she seemed to be ignoring him. 

Rena moved forward to follow, before Emerald grabbed her. “They are right, we need Ladybug or else this will never end. If we engage her in a fight now, and one of us gets turned, we’ll be short on staff and we need everyone together until we can be sure Ladybug is here to fix any of our fuck ups.”

Rena sighed, she hated knowing her friend was under that black mask. Under Hawk Moth’s power. 

“So, we gotta find Lady B.” Emerald nodded. 

“Chat keep an eye on Marinette. We’ll go look for Ladybug.”

Chat nodded as went and climbed the walls, to watch over her from a safe place. 

And soon the squad split and spread in search of the fifth heroin, of their leader. 

It had been an hour and none of them could find even a glimpse of her, and the number of mannequins increased incredibly. Bee, Rena, and Emerald were becoming desperate, going as far as yelling for her, everywhere they went. 

Meanwhile, Chat was becoming angsty on the whole mannequin situation. He knew why Marinette had become this. He had already seen the list of winners on his father’s desk, and her name wasn’t in it. He felt guilty. 

Yet he wondered, why didn’t she try and find his father and punish him? Why was she attacking the public? Why was she so calm about it? And why now? 

He dropped down by her side, seeing she wasn’t being hostile. 

“Do you not hold any rage towards Gabriel?”

The Seamstress turned to look at Chat. “A bit. But not really.” She went and got her next victim, she was beginning to look inside buildings for them. 

“Why?”

She shrugged, too nonchalant for an akuma. “Why bother? I’m helping everyone look beautiful now. Look how happy they are.” She looked at them and waved. And not for the first time Chat wondered what went on inside an akumas head. 

“Mar- . . . Seamstress. Why don’t you just find Gabriel and finish this off? Leave the citizens in peace.” He tried to reason with her, very few times had reasoning worked with an akuma, and Chat felt Marinette would be one of them. 

She shook her head. “I’m not mad at Gabriel. I realize my mistakes. He has given me inspiration. I’ll make him proud.” 

Chat walked towards her as she went for another victim, “Mari please- “

Chat could barely register it. 

He couldn’t deny that Mari was smart. To lure him into a false sense of security? Genius. 

But it was far too late before his mind caught on. 

Strings emerged from her, somewhere around her waist, and held on to his ankles and wrist as she casually strode over to him. 

“I don’t understand why he wants a dumb ring. But he said he’ll take away my ability to make people happy if I don’t get it. So, I apologize in advance.” 

This isn’t the first time Chat has been close to losing his miraculous, hell, all of them had experienced that one point. 

But this is the first time he’s alone. 

He held his breath as he felt her smooth fingers pull the ring from his finger. And in a second everything became dangerous. 

He wondered instantly if the mannequins could really see, and if they would remember what they saw. He didn’t care about Mari, he could bargain with her to stay quiet, and the rest would just be to avoid Hawk Moth. He would have to be more careful once he gets it back, but for now, all he had to do was hide. 

She stood frozen for a moment. The small voice inside her head was screaming. It told her to be shocked about the reveal. So, she was. 

Even the loud voice of Hawk Moth was shocked. And too quiet. 

She pocketed the ring before continuing with her pursuit of happiness. 

And behind her, Adrien ran. 

It was a while after before the rest of the miraculous caught up with her, but they didn’t have anything Hawk Moth wanted, so she ignored them. 

Rena looked around, searching high and low for the cat they left babysitting Mari. “I’m gonna kill him when I find him.”

Bee took charge of babysitting Mari, as the crowd became quieter and the squad became smaller. 

Rena and Emerald jumped building to building looking for either a cat or a bug, but searching hard they were, coming up with nothing too.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter might come on Tuesday. But I'm a bit of a b!tch, so I'll post it on Tuesday IF I can get 100-150 kudos or 5-10 comments. If not then you beauties can wait for me to finish my project on Thursday.


	4. And it was time to bloom.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The End.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> GET READY!   
> I'm a sucker for happy endings and I dont know how to write fight scenes. So . . . don't expect a fight scenes (described; no, suggested; yes) and expect a happy ending.
> 
> Let me just say, you guys delivered. See? If we work together we can get all the fanfics we want. 12 comments was it? And all of them great! You guys brought up things in my story I wanted you guys to notice, things even I didnt notice I put in there, and just generally kept me motivated enough to want to write something else. So, give me a prompt and let's see how it turns out.
> 
> I genuinely don't remember half of what I wrote in this chapter, but I remember the ending, so, ENJOY:

It was soon to be midnight, and the Seamstress was about fifty people short of freezing all of Paris. 

Emerald and Bee have taken turns watching over Mari as their transformations run out. 

Rena took it upon herself to find everyone. 

She was close to the bakery when she noticed a lone boy, walking among the mannequins. 

“Adrien!” She dropped down beside him, “How did you manage to avoid being turned?”

Adrien stuttered, weighing his options while walking to the bakery. 

He decided that to get his miraculous back, he needed at least one of them to know. 

“Sh-she doesn’t seem to be carrying anything that could hold the akuma. The flowers come out of her headpiece, but it keeps producing them every time she takes one, so it can’t be that. I’m guessing whatever it is, she’s not carrying it. So, it’ gotta be in her room.” 

As they reached the doors to the bakery they noticed, that not even Mari’s parents were saved from the attack, as they were mannequins outside the shop, looking as though they were running out to get their daughter. 

“You paid a lot of attention to her.” Rena said, following him into the shop.

“Well. . . you guys had me babysitting her for an hour. Had to learn something from it.” 

They were entering the Dupein-Cheng home when the words sunk in. 

Rena then took a good look at him, noticing now that Adrien has been holding his right hand inside his left this entire time, like something was ripped from it. “. . . Chat? You’re Chat?”

Adrien kept walking through Marinette’s house, as though he lived there, looking for her room. “She took my ring. She’s just waiting for Ladybug.” 

Rena stayed quiet, absorbing the news.

One down, one to go.

As they entered Mari’s room and turned the lights to see, what was once Mari’s safe-haven, Adrien noticed the posters of him on the wall. “I don’t think she knows she’s turning them into mannequins. It didn’t sound like she did. She genuinely thinks she’s helping them.”

“That sounds like her.” Rena said before going to the balcony, to start searching there. 

“I think I found the cause.” She said after a few minutes. 

“She didn’t get accepted. I know. I live with the man who caused this.” Adrien replied as he took in everything in her room. 

So much fashion material, so much clothes, so many mannequins, so many pens and notebooks. It could be anything. 

Rena was distracted reading the letter in the balcony when a small drawing book fell from the desk.

Adrien went to pick it up to see Mari’s old designs, including the damn feather hat that was an incredible struggle to model. He smiled. This seemed as good as any guess as to what could be the akuma. 

“How did you fall?” Adrien sat down at the chair, looking through the pages, finally noticing that while they were Mari’s design, they were distorted in some form. Merging with one another, inverted coloring, and such. 

“Chat?”

Adrien heard a tiny voice. So small and delicate, he feared he imagined it. It sounded kinda like Plagg but more feminine. Oh, how he missed Plagg!

“Yes?” He looked behind him, at the desk, to find another kwami, red and black, Ladybug’s kwami.

“Holy fu- “ 

“Where’s Plagg?”

The kwami flew to his face, clearly in distress, “Where is he? Where’s the ring?”

Adrien looked down, ashamed, “Marinette took it.” 

The kwami let out a distressed sound as she began to float around speaking quickly, about plans and strategies on how to get it back, not wasting a second on tears. 

“Why are you here? Where’s Ladybug?” Rena said, as she fell into the room.

The kwami stared at them both before sighing loudly, “She’s not coming. She can’t.”

Rena rushed to her, clearly bothered by the revelation that Ladybug can't help them save Marinette. “Why!?”

“. . . Because she’s the akuma.” 

It was a long silence. Too long. As both Rena and Adrien took in what the kwami said. 

“. . . Fuck!” Rena exclaimed as it sunk in.

“Mari- . . . Marinette is Ladybug?” 

“How are we going to purify it? We can’t get her out of form until we purify it. If she doesn’t get out of form, she can’t turn into Ladybug and purify it! What are we gonna do!?”

“This entire time Marinette has been Ladybug?”

“ADRIEN FOCUS!”

“I AM FOCUsing! I’m focusing on the fact the Marinette is Ladybug! How it all makes sense! And how scary this is!”

“How are we going to purify it?”

“. . . I can become an akuma.”

Rena finally looked at him, as he grasped at this new information. 

It had never bothered her the idea of becoming an akuma. She and the rest believed it was like chicken pox, once you get it you can’t get it again. So, she did her time. For a while she feared she was the only one who at one point had become an akuma until Bee pointed herself out, and Emerald confirmed to her later that he too had been akumatized. 

That left Ladybug and Chat. Who she now knows were previously the only two students at school who had never been akumatized. She never thought that for them that meant that once you become a miraculous you can’t be akumatized, but it appears to be what they believed. Even the kwami looks baffled by the fact that Mari was akumatized. 

“We know it’s not her earrings or she probably would have turned into some dark version of Ladybug.”

Adrien shook his head and gave her the book. “It’s her art, her hard work, her beginning. He’s distorting it, probably distorting what she sees as well- “

“Which explains why she thinks she’s helping people.” 

Adrien nodded. 

“We need to find Master Fu.” 

The kwami shook her head. “Sir Fu isn’t the master anymore.”

Both Rena and Adrien looked at her confused. “What?”

“Emerald had been training for the past year to become the new master, his training ended two weeks ago. Marinette knows this information, but she doesn’t know who Emerald is. So, if Hawk Moth tells her to find the master . . .” 

“She’ll become hostile towards Emerald and probably knock us down one more member. . . Why hasn’t she taken the Ladybug miraculous?” Rena asked.

The kwami sighed as she settled unto the desk, “I guess she’s fighting, inside, hiding the biggest secrets from Hawk Moth. But here’s the thing. What you said earlier was true. Marinette is carrying the Miraculous on her. If she doesn’t de-transform from the akuma, she can’t get the miraculous, or help you guys. So, we’re stuck in the middle. Neither helping Hawk Moth or helping us.”

Adrien sighed, “At least we know something.”

Rena looked at Adrien, “What?”

“Hawk Moth doesn’t know. Otherwise he would have taken the powers away or taken her to his lair. She has both miraculous right now, and Hawk Moth doesn’t know.”

The kwami looked at them and sighed, “But for how long? Its clear all the miraculous live in Paris, and in a matter of a few more minutes or maybe an hour everyone will be frozen.”

“And from there it will be easy to deduce who the miraculous holders are.” Rena finished. 

They stayed in silence, analyzing the situation.

“. . . And to think he could have akumatized me. Ladybug would have solved the problem in a few and we’d all be sleeping by now.” 

“Were you sad today, Adrien?” Rena joked.

“No, I just meant. He could have gotten lucky with akumatizing one of the miraculous he wants and gotten the identity of one of them. But instead he got checkmate.”

Rena nodded. This was truly a checkmate for both sides. Neither were able to retrieve the Ladybug miraculous or Ladybug herself. 

Rena’s flute began to sing, and while she couldn’t really have video chats like Chat and Ladybug could, her flute was a good phone. “Is something wrong?”

“What isn’t? Chat is missing. Ladybug as well, and everyone in Paris has become a mannequin. This feels like something out of a horror movie. Where are you?”

Rena looked at Adrien. He shrugged, “I don’t think I can hide it, I need as much help as I can get to get it back.”

“I’m at Marinette’s house. Me and Chat found the akumatized object. But we encountered a bit of a road block.”

“What?” They could hear Emerald in the back, they appeared to be running, chasing.

“Well . . . a huge road block. We need to meet in person to talk about it.” 

“Well hurry, she’s on the move. We think she might lead us to Hawk Moth’s lair.”

The room suddenly become ice. “Do you think he figured it out?” 

The kwami’s voice was so small, she feared for her chosen, for her girl. 

“Where are you right now?” 

“By the school, heading south.” Rena nodded and hung up. 

“So, you can’t run as fast as us like this, I hope you don’t mind being carried for a while.” Adrien sighed, and shrugged. “Wouldn’t be the first time.”

The kwami attached herself to one of Rena’s hair tails as Adrien got picked up. 

The kwami held on to Rena, as Rena held on as tight as possible to the kitty without paws, as Adrien tried his best to not lose the book. 

What were they going to do?

Rena managed to catch up to them a few miles after the school. Both Emerald and Bee too distracted to notice the boy in her arms. 

They ran and jumped for a few more minutes before stopping upon the Agreste Mansion.

“Oh, fuck me.”

It was then they noticed their non-costumed company. 

“Adrien!?”

“Why did you bring him here Rena?” Emerald yelled at her.

Rena shook her head as she let him down. “You tell them.”

Adrien handed the book to Emerald. “That’s the akuma. And I’m here to get my ring back.” 

Truly, that moment when their comrades connect the dots, and everything falls into place, it was wonderful to witness, and he would reveal himself a million times more to keep enjoying it, but he remembered the reason it was happening, and he couldn’t enjoy it. 

Bee was baffled by who he was. “You’re Chat Noir!?”

Emerald was freaked by his lack of costume, “SHE HAS THE RING?”

Rena sighed as she softly grabbed the distressed kwami, “And she has the earrings as well.”

“That’s Ladybug’s kwami.” Emerald whispered, trying to process the hole they were stuck in.

“Ladybug is about to enter the mansion.” The kwami said quietly. 

They all turned to look, situated behind the mansion, on a high wall, how a round window, that for too long looked like concrete, but now there was a clear butterfly on it, opened, and The Seamstress Queen jumped in. 

Emerald sighed, “And Marinette is Ladybug.” He nodded, like it was something he was suspicious about and this just confirmed it.

Rena gave him a quizzical look, “You don’t sound surprised.”

Emerald scoffed, “Well I did notice that Marinette had a habit of visiting Master Fu a lot, and that when Marinette was sick, so was Ladybug, and that neither were ever in same place at the same time, even if we had previously seen Marinette in the building a few minutes prior. Ladybug got uncomfortable when you talked about Marinette. And when Marinette went missing a few weeks ago and only showed up when Ladybug was informed about it? That was it for me.” 

“Well I've never felt dumber in my life.” Queen mumbled, beginning to make her way to the building.

“Where are you going?” Rena asked.

“We know where he is. We’ve been searching for this- Chat, you and Lady have been searching for this for three years now, and we know where it is. What if it closes and we lose both the lair and Ladybug inside it? We can’t waste time.”

Rena and Emerald agreed, they might never get this opportunity again. They all looked at Adrien and waited.

“. . .” He sighed, “Today I had my identity discovered, a secret I kept for three years. I discovered that one of my best friend, who has been pining for me for years and I kept rejecting, is the girl I’ve been pinning for for the past three years. And now . . . I know what this means. No one else is in that house. No one else can be- . . . I’m not ready. Not for this.” 

They all knew what this meant, who was left. Who Hawk Moth was. 

They understood Adrien’s resistance. 

“We can’t wait for you to be.” For having such a soft voice, the kwami’s words hit them, hit Adrien, like a pile of bricks. 

Rena sighed, “She’s right, we need to save Marinette, Ladybug, all of Paris from . . . from your dad.”

Adrien flinched, as she said it aloud. He didn’t know what to do, so he remained quiet as they carried him to the window. 

They never stopped to question why it remained open. 

Hawk Moth was in fact waiting for them. And so was Ladybug. 

In between jumping fences and scaling the wall, not one them noticed that the kwami was no longer there. 

“Well look at this, I can get them all in one day. This is getting better by the minute.”

Adrien remained hidden in the back, avoiding the confrontation as the rest took charge.

“Ladybug?” Bee asked. They were hesitant to get close to the girl who walked towards them like a friend but looked like a foe. 

She wasn’t red and black, or black and red. This was something they had never seen before. Her costume was white, with black dots. It almost seemed peaceful and good. If it weren’t for her eyes. 

There was the red she was known for. 

Vicious. And angry. 

“Who’s the master Ladybug?” 

In a second. . . the fight started. 

Ladybug rushed to Emerald, trying to get the upper hand on him, but as soon as Hawk Moth asked, Emerald knew what she was going for. 

She was quicker, quicker than before. It was hard to avoid her, so the girls took it upon themselves to be a distraction or an obstacle. But protect Emerald they had. 

None of them wiser to the grown man who walked towards his scared son. 

“Adrien- “

“Why!?” Adrien didn’t know, about the tears, the frustration and anger driving tears from his eyes. 

Hawk Moth whispered, “Its so that we can get her back.” 

“Dad- . . . no. You can’t make me feel like I’m wrong for stopping you.”

“Adrien, I’m trying to do what’s best for us- “

“No! You’re trying to do what’s best for you. I’ve moved on. I accepted it, she’s not coming back. Why can’t you?” 

“Because I love her Adrien! I love her with everything in me, with everything I can give. I promised her I would give anything, sacrifice anything for her safety if anything were to happen to her. And I plan to keep that promise. I will get her back!”

Adrien stayed quiet, as for the first time, his father showed emotions, for the first time in years he wasn’t stoic. 

“In that list of things . . .” Hawk Moth breathed heavily after the outburst, “Of things you would sacrifice for her . . .” Adrien finally looked at him in the eyes and said, “Am I in it?” 

Hawk Moth sighed, “I didn’t plan for this, for you to hold a miraculous. I didn’t expect you to be Chat Noir. This wasn’t part of the plan- “

“I’m not asking what the plan was, I’m asking what the plan is NOW.”

Hawk Moth shook his head, “I can’t. She wouldn’t forgive me, and I don’t think I could live past it.”

Adrien nodded as he took a step back. 

In that split-second Adrien noticed that Bee was coughing up blood in a corner and that Rena had what appeared to be a broken leg. Ladybug wasn’t playing fair. And all she had left to fight with was Emerald. One more and Hawk Moth wins. He has all the miraculous. 

But Emerald wasn’t playing nice anymore, he was fighting back, not giving a damn about the girl behind the mask. He knew she wasn’t there right now. 

“You can have it back.”

Adrien looked back at his dad, who held his miraculous in his open palm.

“Just help her finish it and you can have your mother back, and I promise to leave the kids behind the mask alone. Drop them off somewhere safe, and we can go. No more miraculous, no more fights, just us, a family.” He could see the desperation in his eyes. He truly believed this. That that could happen. 

“Where would we go?”

“America, Japan, anywhere as long as we’re far away from here.” Adrien nodded. It did sound tempting. He could almost see it.

“You won’t have to model anymore, you could study whatever you wanted, and we could all live a peaceful and normal life.” 

Adrien walked forward, the idea of a normal life was so tempting. He was almost becoming infatuated with the idea of having his mother back.

“Just get me the miraculous, so I can get her back and then destroy them all.”

Adrien almost had his ring in his hand when he considered that maybe this was a trap. He looked at his father, looked him in the eyes, and saw the honesty and desperation in them. He truly meant it.

“. . . You didn’t say which miraculous.”

Adrien quickly reached across and ripped the brooch from his chest, pulling with him the mask that hid Hawk Moth all these years. He watched for a second as his father emerged from the glow before grabbing the ring that fell on the floor and bolting for Ladybug.

As Gabriel emerged and panicked at the situation, Ladybug came out of her akumatized state. 

She took one look at her friends and began sobbing. She couldn’t believe she did that. She couldn’t believe she hurt her friends. Marinette dropped to her knees in shock.

“I get you’re scared, but the akuma is still in the air, purify it!” Emerald yelled as he tried to apprehend Gabriel, who took the distraction to run. 

In a fit of panic, Ladybug returned and purified the last akuma that they would ever see. 

And in an instant Adrien had her in his arms. 

She grabbed on to him as her sobs became stronger. “It’s ok. It’s all over. It’s finally over.”

It was hours later when Gabriel was arrested. No one knew about Adrien, they just all assumed the heroes arrived at his home and apprehended his father.

They didn’t know it was him who ripped the glory from his own father's hands.

He was at least glad about that. 

The last spell managed to heal Rena’s broken leg and Bee’s internal injuries. 

They were glad about that too.

“What are you gonna do?” Marinette asked Adrien as he looked at his father’s office, staring at the book and the peacock miraculous. To think it was there all along. And he knew it too.

“I don’t know yet.”

“This is all yours now.” 

Adrien sighed and settled unto the couch nearby, “Thanks for reminding me.”

Marinette sighed and took place right next to him, cuddling into old customs, things they did when in costume. They were comfortable before, why stop now?

“When are they coming?”

“They should be close.”

“Good, it is ridiculously unfair that they know who we are, but we don’t know them.” Adrien grumbled at this knowledge.

Mari giggled, “Well . . . Alya is Rena. I gave her the miraculous, so I know that much.”

“Wh- What?” Adrien gasped, but the more he thought about it the more it made sense. Her protectiveness towards Mari, her fixations on the secrets, her attitude. 

Mari reasoned, “It fit.” 

Adrien nodded, “Yeah, it truly did.”

Soon there was a knock on the window as a fox, a bee and a turtle jumped into the room. 

“Ugh, I can’t believe I was carried by Alya.”

“what- you told him? You couldn’t wait!?”

Mari giggled as Alya dropped the transformation. 

Bee stared in wonder, while Emerald looked like he was screwed for life.

“Fuck,” he whispered under his breath. 

“What shelly? Afraid to show us the wise master underneath the mask?” Alya teased.

“Fuck yes!”

Alya scoffed, “Oh come on, if anyone had it bad here it was Adrien. And if anyone had it stupid it was those two cuddling.” 

Emerald sighed as he dropped the transformation, to reveal Nino. 

It was quiet.

“. . . You were right to be afraid you SON OF A- “ 

Nino quickly grabbed Alya before she could land a weak punch and held her in a tight embrace. “What about you Goldie?”

Bee dropped her transformation.

“. . . Wow. That- that was one I didn’t expect.” Mari said with shock clear in her voice. 

“We were all in the same room together.” Adrien said.

“We could have known and helped each other out” Nino added.

“Why didn’t we?” Alya said as she settled into the hug. 

Mari slowly hid into Adrien’s chest as they all slowly began to glare at her. 

“I thought it was for our own good!”

“Mhm,” Adrien replied, sarcasm clear in his voice.

“Adrien is the only one.”

They all turned to look at Chloe. 

“What?” Alya asked.

“Adrien is the only one who wasn’t akumatized.”

It was quiet as that settled in.

“Well, how could he when he shines brighter than the sun, I mean look at his hair!” Nino quickly tried to bring laughter in it. 

Because very easily jealousy could seep in, and petty anger could break them apart. 

They spent the rest of the evening talking, as they tried to distract Adrien from his situation. But now it was time to go.

“The miraculous is on the desk, along with the book.” Nino nodded as he went ahead to take the last missing miraculous and the book with so much knowledge. 

“Adrien.”

“Mhm?”

“. . . Why did your dad have the peacock miraculous?”

Adrien looked at his mother’s painting, where it had remained hidden, “I’ve been asking myself that for the past three years.”

They all kept their miraculous. They used it for menial work, like preventing robberies and saving people from burning buildings. 

Soon enough they all graduated.

Alya went on to work at The Heroes of Today, writing news articles about her friend’s work and dropping hints every now and then on who they could be.

Chloe went on to follow her father’s footsteps and she now works as the secretary to the new mayor. She was glad for Adrien’s persistence, for she couldn’t imagine how she would tolerate all the government bullshit without Nathanael by her side. 

Nino managed to get an agent during his first year of college, and with the money from his first hit, he planned a romantic trip, far away, so that he could propose to the crazy redhead who couldn’t shut up about the miraculous holders. 

Adrien decided to study business management, so he could take over his dad’s company. He didn’t like knowing that without him, many aspiring designers would lose their jobs and scholarships and such. Many men and women who worked as hard as Mari did to get there. And all because of someone else’s dumb mistake. So, he studied hard. It took him three years, before he graduated and inherited the company. It had remained closed for those three years, and he immediately hired back all the previous employees. He found out that his father had figured out Marinette’s identity many months prior to his demise. That he changed the rules of his internship program to raise her hopes up as much as possible, so he could knock her down so hard, she would become susceptible to an akuma attack. He planned to make up for it.

Marinette on the other hand took a year off. She relaxed at home with her parents, baking and teaching her constant blonde visitor how to cook. She relaxed and enjoyed her time off, coming back to school a year later with a fresh mind. It took her four years to finish. And so many loans. She began to get jobs at any boutique or design company on her last year so that she could began to save up to pay for her student loans. 

On the night of her graduation, Sabine and Tom were too calm and resilient on letting their freshly graduated little girl off with her boyfriend for dinner. Much more considering that when she graduated high school they forced her to stay at home as every family member ever came over for a graduation party. But now they didn’t seem to care. Her biggest achievement so far and they let her go. Sabine and Tom knew what Adrien planned to do. So, they just went home to wait for Mari’s excited call. 

It was the next morning when everyone she knew, found out about her engagement. Alya excited to be the maid of honor, Chloe thrilled to be a bridesmaid and help Nette plan the wedding. Nino making sly comments on why it took till morning for them to hear about it when he knew Adrien would propose the night prior. 

It was the blooming after the storm. 

Adrien insisted to Mari to spend her savings on the wedding and not the loans. That they would worry about that later, Mari eventually agreed. 

To say that many thought she only got the job at Agreste Fashion because she was the wife of the president of the company was an understatement. She knew it wasn’t. He knew it wasn’t. And the actual designers who hired her knew it wasn’t true. 

What was true was that Marinette didn’t have to worry about her loans. He had been paying them off as soon as she got them. Mr. and Mrs. Agreste had long arguments about him doing that behind her back. All of them ended between blankets and whispered apologies. There were enough arguments that a little dark haired and green-eyed kitty bug came soon after. It took a few more arguments before he managed to convince her to name her Kitty. Their friends joked about it all the time. 

Overall, the storm was over. And it was time to bloom.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OK, listen.   
> If its bad, say it nicely.   
> If its good, say it in all ways possible (the louder and crazier, the better)  
> If there are grammar mistakes, point them out. (I'll hopefully fix them on Thursday)  
> If you want more (not this story), give me a promt.
> 
> (ok, I did read the chapter a bit, and I did find the tweet from Astruc saying their transformations don't run out unless they use their special skills AFTER I finished writing this so. . . au?)
> 
> And above it all, THANKS FOR READING!!!! I can't thank you enough for reminding me of the pleasures of writing.

**Author's Note:**

> For updates on this, and wether or not I'll post it all http://lilredmary.tumblr.com/
> 
> Like I said, it is written, finished, its up to you guys if it stays hidden in my computer along with this other drarry fanfic I wrote, or if I share it.


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